Hot Topics:

NE Pa. teen testifies in mother's tampering trial

The Associated Press

Updated:
05/07/2013 06:00:21 PM EDT

WILKES-BARRE, Pa.—A northeast Pennsylvania teenager who acknowledges having accidentally shot a friend to death a year ago has testified in the trial of his mother, who is charged with having covered up the shooting.

Thirty-one-year-old Angelina Deabreu of East Stroudsburg is charged in Luzerne County with tampering with evidence and lying to in the April 2012 death of 14-year-old Tyler Winstead

The (Wilkes-Barre) Citizens' Voice ( http://bit.ly/12QYwq7) says her son testified Tuesday that he didn't know the gun was loaded before it discharged.

He said he "panicked" and dragged the body to the front of the home, telling a passer-by that his friend was shot in a drive-by shooting.

Authorities allege that Deabreu hid the gun, lied to investigators and deleted cellphone pictures of her son handling the weapon.